Jill Weinlein

Review of Mozza's

Sit at the Pizza counter to watch the Pizzaiolos i...

Sit at the Pizza counter to watch the Pizzaiolos in action. It's quite entertaining. Once your order is taken you will be given wax paper with four crispy bread sticks inside. These may be some of the best bread sticks you have ever tasted. They are made fresh daily at the nearby La Brea Bakery. Owner Nancy Silverton owns both establishments.

Nancy s chopped salad is a mound of shredded red onions, cherry tomatoes, salami, aged provolone, garbanzo beans, iceburg lettuce and pepperchinis. The radicchio gives the salad a bitter taste, while the pepperchinis give it a zip.

Of course order a couple pizzas. The most requested pizza on the menu is a fennel sausage smoothed with panna (cream) and lit up with red onions and scallions. Smush the sausage with your fork into the pizza crust to get the full flavor of the fennel and sausage meat.

Nancy s pizza dough took her over one year to perfect. It s not a traditional Neapolitan crust and it s not fancy. The dough is simple and baked in the pizza oven. The edges are darker in color than most pizza crusts. For those who eat pizza, but leave the edges of the crust on the plate, you won t do that here. It s too delicious.

Save room for the butterscotch Budino. It s luscious and lovely with one of Nancy s delicate rosemary pine nut cookie. The sweet butterscotch is embellished with a sprinkling of sea salt on the top. A sweet ending to a fine meal.